Dec 12 -
I've been using Google Scholar to find
research papers lately. It offers a nice search interface to a number of
subscription services, but it doesn't seem to include results from personal author
web pages.
Dec 1 -
Check out this
camera that uses multiple flashes to find object edges in order
to automatically create a useful line drawing of the subject.
Nov 20 -
Rolling Stone came out with their list of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
I'm not sure about Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" as the top pick, but then these
lists are made to be disagreed with. Last year they did the
500 Greatest Albums.
Nov 18 -
Panic Software, a cool little mac software
company, recently retired their pioneering audio player, Audion. This was my
music player of choice until iTunes came out. It turns out that this application
has a very interesting story behind it, and luckily you can
read about it here.
Nov 12 -
Here's an
interesting piece
that argues that the journalistic desire for "balanced" stories
may run counter to good scientific reporting.
Nov 7 -
My college roommate Andy Caffrey just set up his
new website.
I really like its layout :)
Nov 1 -
Election fun -
the result of the Washington Redskins' last home game before
the election has correctly predicted the outcome of every
presidential race
since 1936.
The Packers beat the Redskins yesterday, which predicts a Bush
loss. But regardless of a football game,
GO VOTE TOMORROW!
Oct 28 -
Last night there was a clear night for the
lunar eclipse. It was
also the first lunar eclipse to occur during a baseball
playoff game. The planets were aligned. Go Red Sox!
Oct 27 -
This guy makes some
serious lego creations, including a biped walking robot and a
device that can solve an arbitrary Rubik's cube!
Oct 26 -
After delays and waiting and then waiting again after my computer
was DOA,
I finally got a working new G5 mac a few weeks ago, and so far
it has been great and I love it. I added a
new page about my
computer, programs I like, and hints to get the most out of a mac.
Oct 6 -
This past weekend I won my fantasy baseball league. I joined on
a lark and used a magazine as a guide for who to draft. I know
very little about current baseball players so I treated the whole
thing as an optimization problem with uncertainty. Perhaps not
being distracted by baseball knowledge actually helped me
(like in
Scrabble).
Sep 21 -
After 3 delays and over 2 months of waiting, I finally got my new
G5 mac today
(FedEx made it ontime even though my street was
under construction). Unfortunately,
its fancy
liquid cooling
system had a problem so I have to send it back and get a new
one. Back to waiting...
Sep 16 -
The science journal Nature
asked Kerry and Bush 15 different science policy related questions.
Read their responses
here.
Sep 14 -
After two delays, my new
G5 mac was
supposed to ship today, but once again Apple delayed it
even further with no explanation. Apple sucks.
Sep 8 -
Politics! See where you stand at the
political compass
and check current vote predictions and trends at
electoral-vote.com.
Sep 3 -
Arrrgh! After being delayed, my new
G5 mac was
supposed to ship today. Instead of getting a shipping notice,
I received another delay with no explanation
from Apple at 6pm today.
This is very poor customer service. I will never again
pre-order a new Apple product.
Aug 20 -
If your language only contains the numbers one, two, and many,
can you count to five?
Maybe not. (For more in-depth information, see
this pdf)
Aug 17 -
I ordered a new dual G5 mac over a month ago, and they keep
delaying shipment. Here's a
chart
showing order dates, delivery estimates,
and actual delivery times (the red ones are late).
Mine is under Herman (ordered 7/13). Delays like this are
very frustrating. I want my new computer!
Aug 2 -
This weekend I saw Howard Shore conduct the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
playing music
from the Lord of the Rings. The music stood on its own,
but it was enhanced further with the projection of concept art
from the movie. It was an amazing show.
July 20 -
I made fancy plots to try to
win the iTunes 100 millionth song
contest,
but it didn't work out. At least I got some good music.
July 6 -
I saw Kerry announce his VP choice at a rally
here in Pittsburgh. I didn't get to shake his
hand, but I did get to see him
work the crowd.
June 19 -
I just got a
gmail account
(carlwellington@gmail.com)
from a friend of a friend of a friend of someone at google.
The interface is nice, but the whole thing is a little
creepy.
May 27 -
Next month I'll be renting a car in Ireland, where they drive
on the left. Here's some explanation about
why different countries drive on the left and the right.
May 24 -
Every computer user's nightmare: my hard drive failed.
Much of it was backed up. Quite a bit was not. Don't let this
happen to you - set up a systematic backup plan.
May 18 -
It's national
Bike-to-Work Week.
Try riding your bike today. I did.
May 5 -
Added a new page about conservation.
May 4 -
Our system of time is confusing. Here are explanations for the
names
and
order of the days of the week. Personally, I think we should get
with the program and switch to
metric time.
May 3 -
Dublin, Ireland had a laser light sculpture that could be controlled
from anywhere over the web. Check out
pictures of
my design or an
article
about the sculpture.
April 22 -
Happy Earth Day!
The environment keeps getting better but there is still a lot of progress
to be made.
April 17 -
Today was CMU's celebration of the Indian festival
Holi
where you
throw color
all over eachother.
Check out our
pictures.
April 16 -
I ran CMU's
Random Distance Run
- two dice rolls determine the race length, but the 2nd die
isn't rolled until someone completes the first part. The
1st roll was a 2 (yay!), but then the 2nd roll was
a 6 (ugh!). At least it was a beautiful day to run 2 miles.
April 11 -
My Mini Cooper just got stripes and a custom license plate.
A new web page showing before and after pictures is
here.
March 31 -
Ever wonder why your
toast always lands butter-side down?
March 27 -
Spring is finally here. I took down the winter
plastic on the windows and got some fresh air
in my house. Warm weather is good.
March 13 -
The Red Team
only made it 7.4 miles in the
Grand Challenge
today, but they still made it farther than anyone else.
It's a hard problem.
March 13 -
Complete redesign of my website.
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